lucknow: The Congress suffered a big setback ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections as former state unit chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi today joined the ruling BJP, expressing her strong differences with the grand old party on its stand over surgical strikes and the way party's state poll campaign was being handled.Addressing mediapersons after joining the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah, Ms Joshi hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking courageous steps for national security, as exemplified by the Army's cross LoC surgical strikes against terrorists.

In a dig at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the former Congress leader said she has been greatly pained by the way the Congress questioned the Army's operation and accused the Modi government of ''Khoon ki Dalali'' on the issue.